Beauty spot: Garcia Tamjidi crafts Kendo’s San Francisco offices
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

When Kendo, an LVMH beauty brand incubator based in San Francisco, needed to majorly expand into a new space, the company turned to local firm Garcia Tamjidi Architecture Design, known for its ethereally modernist work on projects as varied as the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, residential jewel boxes dotted across the bay area and multiple tech offices for both startups and established firms. The people of Kendo, which is currently focused on six pillar companies – Marc Jacobs Beauty, Kat Von D Beauty, Ole Henriksen, Bite Beauty, Formula X and Fenty Beauty by Rihanna – hadn’t ever worked in a space dedicated to and designed explicitly for them. That’s where Garcia Tamjidi came in.
'They’re not retail, but we imported that retail look to energise the internal team,' says Farid Tamjidi. That retail look is centred on a massive, shiny black centrepiece of a long glowing table that appears in the reception area and is repeated in the cafe area directly opposite (a hallmark of the project is long views and repeated motifs). Before moving into their own full-floor office space, Kendo product managers were squeezed together, displaying products wherever they could – on conference tables, in spare hallways, on desks. Now, with the combination of this endlessly long table and the spotlit illumination that elevates products like the Kat Von D Beauty lipstick tubes and the Marc Jacobs Beauty limited edition nail lacquer, it feels like there’s something to really look at.
The architects worked on creating an office environment with an invigorating 'retail look'
'We also brought in graphics that reconfirm their cultural identity,' says Michael Garcia. Those graphic, massive print-outs glued to the wall (so they’re changeable along with the trends) help to give a sense of narrative momentum to the otherwise colour-neutral – black, beige, and white dominate – open office desking. Further pops are provided by bright flashes of coloured furniture in the lounge areas and small meeting spaces. 'You’re looking at patterns of windows and colours of glass on all four sides,' Tamjidi says of the views of downtown San Francisco that are visible from the clear floor-length spans. 'A lot of it was hard architecture. Silver, smoke grey glass panelling, a very colour-neutral field of view. We thought it’d be a good juxtaposition to have a pop of colour in the foreground.'
That connection of inside and outside, and bright colours and soft neutrals, is perfect for a company devoted to incubating beauty brands that deal with, essentially, exactly all of that.
Large graphics and carefully selected furniture provide vivid pops of colour for the interiors
A shiny black centrepiece in the form of a long glowing table appears in the reception area and is repeated in the cafe area directly opposite
These bright colours create a welcome contrast to the more neutrally-hued hard architecture details
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Garcia Tamjidi website (opens in new tab)
-
Glenmorangie unveils a whisky inspired by rugged Scottish forests
Glenmorangie’s A Tale of the Forest uses an ancient Highland method for drying barley to create a distinctive taste
By Mary Cleary • Published
-
Odile Mir: exploring the creative life of a self-taught polymath
Nonagenarian French artist Odile Mir is back for an encore, thanks to her granddaughter’s role in reissuing her modernist designs
By Amy Serafin • Published
-
Samuel Ross on the architectural influences and optimistic ethos behind his Acqua di Parma collaboration
Samuel Ross discusses the inspiration behind his redesign of Acqua di Parma’s iconic Colonia fragrance
By Mary Cleary • Published
-
Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize 2023 winner is the Anahuacalli Museum
Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize 2023 winner is revealed to be the renovation and expansion of the Anahuacalli Museum in Mexico City by Taller | Mauricio Rocha
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
An off-grid cabin in Washington State opens up to a spectacular landscape
Ment Architecture’s off-grid cabin, Swift, offers volcanic views and solar-powered sylvan living from its clifftop site
By Jonathan Bell • Published
-
This futuristic ski house is born of its sloped locale
A ski house with a contemporary twist, this is House at 9,000ft by MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple in the Intermountain Region of Western USA
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Lasting Joy Brewery injects design sophistication to Hudson Valley farmland
Lasting Joy Brewery by Auver Architecture brings contemporary energy and sophistication to the growing Hudson Valley craft beer scene
By Pei-Ru Keh • Published
-
Khanna Schultz’s House in Michigan is an exercise in balancing contrasts
House in Michigan by Khanna Schultz was conceived to fulfil contrasting needs – and does so with poise and efficiency
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Marfa’s El Cosmico campground hotel is getting a 3D-printed revamp
El Cosmico in Marfa, Texas, is being reimagined by BIG, 3D-printing specialist Icon and hotelier Liz Lambert
By Pei-Ru Keh • Published
-
Sonoma home gets dramatic flowing studio extension
Mourning Dovecote by Schwartz and Architecture is a Sonoma home’s eye-catching studio extension for an architect
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Black Creativity in architecture celebrated in Chicago exhibition
New exhibition in Chicago is centred on honouring Black Creativity in architecture through the ages
By Audrey Henderson • Published